Rabbi Dayan was approached by four of the avreichim (rabbinical students) in his kollel.
“We’ve got a case!” they said. “We’d like to know the halacha.”
“What happened?” asked Rabbi Dayan.
“I joined the kollel a month ago,” Reuven said. “I took a seat vacated by Moshe, who had moved to a different table two or three months beforehand. Yesterday, I reached into the shelf under my table and found $70 there. There was also a note written by Aharon, ‘$70 for purchase of sefarim.’ You see, Moshe was selling sefarim for $70.”
“It seems the money was left from when Moshe sat there,” noted Rabbi Dayan.
“That’s what I thought, so I returned the money to Aharon,” said Reuven. “But this morning, Shimon, who owes me $70, told me he left $70 for me under the table last week! Now I don’t know whether the $70 was connected to the note, and was Aharon’s for the purchase of sefarim, or was repayment to me from Shimon, unrelated to the note.”
“When did you put the money and the note there?” Rabbi Dayan asked Aharon.
“I put it there at least three months ago,” Aharon replied.
Rabbi Dayan turned to Reuven. “Did you reach into the shelf during the month you were here?” he asked. “Did you ever notice the money or the note?”
“I reached into the shelf a number of times, but never noticed the money or the note until yesterday,” replied Reuven. “It’s not likely I would have missed the money had it been there the whole time. On the other hand, Shimon insists the note has been there three months, and I never noticed it!”
Rabbi Dayan turned to Moshe. “Did you ever receive the $70?” he asked.
“I don’t remember,” replied Moshe. “My records are not 100 percent”
“Let’s reconstruct what happened,” said Rabbi Dayan. “Assuming that you all trust each other and are telling the truth, there are two possibilities: One is that the $70 is connected to Aharon’s note and has been sitting there for the past few months, whereas the money that Shimon put there last week got lost. In this case, the $70 should go to Moshe as payment for the sefarim, and Shimon has to repay Reuven.”
“The other possibility is that Reuven found the $70 that Shimon left for him,” continued Rabbi Dayan. “Aharon’s money from three months ago was either already taken by Moshe, who accidentally left the note there, or was lost, in which case Aharon still owes him. Where is the money now?”
“Reuven gave it back to me,” replied Aharon. “I’m now holding it. What should I do with it?
“The Gemara [B.M. 26a] teaches that if someone moves into an apartment and finds items,” replied Rabbi Dayan, “he can assume they belonged to the immediately preceding tenant. However, if the item was hidden in a crevice, it may belong to a prior tenant.” (C.M. 260:3; Shach 260:11)
“Thus, if Reuven reached into the shelf a number of times to take out things and never found the money until now,” continued Rabbi Dayan, “we have to assume the money was recently placed there by Shimon, and Aharon should return it to Reuven. Although Aharon’s note was also just discovered now, it is much easier to miss a small slip of paper than bills of money.”
“So what about the $70 for the sefarim?” asked Aharon. “Do I have to pay Moshe again?”
“If one who owes money placed it in the lender’s property and notified him, or it was fully secure, he has fulfilled his repayment obligation,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “However, the shelf under the table is not secure, so unless you informed Moshe that the money was there, it is not valid repayment if the money got lost.” (See Aruch Hashulchan C.M. 120:2; Pischei Choshen, Halva’ah 5:1[2])
